Philadelphia Eagles have best front seven in NFL per PFF
Pro Football Focus recently ranked the best front sevens in the NFL, and Philadelphia Eagles fans are going to be happy with who took the top spot.
As fans and members of the media, we’ve all spent a lot of time celebrating this young Philadelphia Eagles secondary and Nick Foles, and for good reason, but it’s time to take a few moments and talk about Philly’s brilliant front seven. Recently Pro Football Focus ranked them as the best in the NFL.
Somewhere, probably in that big coaches box in the sky, Jim Johnson and Buddy Ryan are smiling.
PFF flexes that analytical muscle.
On the Tuesday following Philly’s Wildcard win over the Chicago Bears, and just a few short hours after their defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz met with the media, Pro Football Focus, or PFF as we like to call them, released their front seven rankings for all 32 teams.
The Eagles topped the list. Here’s some of that analysis.
Video courtesy of PFF’s official YouTube page
According to senior analysts Steve Palazzolo and Mike Renner, pass coverage and the pass rush affected these numbers a little more than each unit’s ability to stop the run, but whatever the criteria, it’s nice to see some recognition for the front seven.
Chris Long, Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox and Michael Bennett have all played their behinds off all season.
To be honest, when you look at the full write up over at ProFootballFocus.com, one could argue that they were so good they carried the second level, not only on Sundays but on this list as well.
Next. Injury Update: Wallace, Jones will see an increased workload. dark
Philly will need even more out of the linebackers, which includes recently returning Jordan Hicks. Philly rotated him in and out of the lineup a lot on Sunday as they’ve been trying to ease him back in slowly.
He’ll, no doubt, need to play more in the Divisional Round if Philly’s going to walk out of the ‘Big Easy’ with a win.